Post flop play – the key to successful poker

Everyone knows that peflop play is important, but post flop action is where the real poker skill shines. Preflop action is only important because it makes your post-flop decisions simpler. Obviously though, if you whip your preflop skills into shape, you probably won’t be a losing player anymore, or you’ll be a very marginally losing one. Good preflop skills will make it easier on you to handle the post flop action, and by virtue of that fact alone, your game will improve.

Post flop action is what good poker players excel at though. There’s a tendency among these players to neglect preflop skills in favor of post flop skills, which is not necessarily the right thing to do, but which can be explained reasonably: these players are in their element during the post flop action. They like to see many flops because that means they’ll drag many players right into their element, where their victims may not be as comfortable as they are. The bottom line about where you should focus is this: as a beginner, your goal should be to clean up your preflop act. That will help you move onto a different level of poker skill, and it will radically improve your game. Once you whip your post flop skills into shape though, seeing as many flops as possible becomes your goal, because that will offer you an advantage over your preflop-focused opponents.

Being a good post-flop player will obviously offer you a bigger edge than being a good preflop one. Here are some of the basic elements that define successful post-flop strategy. Mind you, playing well post flop is always simpler on paper than in real life. The factors that I’m about to discuss in this post will only be touched in general terms. The goal is to set you onto the right track rather than to turn you into a lean-mean post-flop playing machine.

Position. There’s nothing as important in poker as position. This goes for cash games and tournaments too. I know you’ve probably heard and read this a thousand times already, but one can’t iterate this enough times: do take position into account and do adjust your starting hand ranges, your calling range and your tight-loose balance according to it. Position is more important during preflop play than during post flop action, but it carries more than enough significance after the flop too. Think about it like this: you’re the first to act after the flop. You’re already uneasy about it, aren’t you? Being the last to act post-flop is just as reassuring and it gives you control over the betting round the same way it does before the flop.

Aggression. Although aggression is a major part of successful post flop play, you shouldn’t exaggerate its significance. In a world: aggression is not all there is to it. There’s a fine line between being aggressive and mindlessly aggressive. Contrary to what beginners believe about them and contrary to the image they sell at the table, good poker players are not wildly aggressive. Their aggression is selective and it’s therefore highly efficient, making them look like they’re unstoppable. If you are wildly aggressive, you shall expose yourself to traps your opponents may spring to bust you.
According to experts, there’s a gender thing in aggressiveness too. Men tend to be more aggressive than women in everything they do, and thus in poker too. This surplus of senseless aggression is supposedly something female poker players can and will exploit to their advantage.

Folding. The same macho attitude that drives some players to be senselessly and counter-productively aggressive, will slap the mark of shame on folding. After all, if you fold, you chicken out, right? Not exactly. Don’t let such childish ideas dictate your actions. And what if the other players believe you’re yellow? You may even turn that false table image to your advantage.
Sometimes however, the psychological aspects behind folding are more complicated than that. Say the same player bullies you out of 3-4 hands in a row. You begin to steam about it and before you know it, you’re on a mission: to “get” the bully and to teach him a lesson. Such impulse-based missions are extremely counterproductive for your performance though. When chasing after your nemesis, you toss your carefully weighed decisions out the window and begin to force Lady Luck’s hand. This usually leaves you more exposed to further damage though, so you’ll be hit again and again and before you know it, you’ll be tilting.
Now that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t ever go after a player and isolate him in order to cash in on his weaknesses. Things take a wrong turn though when your emotions barge into the equation.

Post flop- coin flips. I know you’re going to tell me that post flop coin flips carry a marginal EV+ (which is mathematically correct indeed because you chop the pot, which has dead money in it), but I’ll still tell you to avoid them. The problem with coin-flips is that you’re not always taking one when you think you are. Sometimes, what you initially think is a coon-flip turns out to be a lop-sided cruising for a bruising. If you factor those occasions in as well, your marginal EV+ will go up in smoke.

The above detailed post flop factors are generally valid for cash games as well as for tournaments. Some of them unfold in different ways in cash games and tourneys though. The coin-flip for instance is generally a good idea when you’re in the late stages of a MTT, while it’s generally not a good idea in cash games.